KNYSNA NEWS - When Andile Qele contracted polio as a child, doctors told his family he might never walk again.
Today, the 51-year-old father of five from Knysna not only runs a thriving construction company from his wheelchair, but has turned his lived experience of disability into a driving force for employing and uplifting others facing similar barriers.
Qele says many people told him that he couldn't start and run his own business, but he decided to prove them wrong.
'Nothing I couldn't accomplish'
Growing up in a family that refused to treat him differently, Qele says that he quickly learned that limitations are often imposed by others, not by one's own ability.
"My family never babied me. They believed there was nothing I couldn't accomplish. That belief became my foundation," he says.
This foundation was tested after he finished school and found that job applications went unanswered.
"I sent CV after CV but with no success. Eventually I realised the only way forward was to create my own opportunity.
In 2016 I decided, with the help of a friend in George and the Knysna Municipality, to register my company under me and my wife's names. Money was scarce, and the first jobs came through subcontracting to bigger firms.
"There were months when we could only afford to pay my wife and her brother. So I got out of my chair, strapped two-litre cold-drink bottles to my knees - the same way I moved as a child - and helped lay aprons around RDP houses. That's how I learned plastering," he recalls proudly.
From those humble beginnings, the company grew steadily. Today it builds RDP houses, paints and tiles private homes, surfaces roads and maintains municipal grass verges across the Garden Route.
Turning disability into an advantage
Qele is frank about the prejudice he still confronts. "People underestimate you until the job is done better than they expected. I've been scammed, promised tenders if I bought someone a phone or paid 'facilitation fees'. You learn fast, you move on and you remember the lesson."
Transport remains a major challenge. Without a modified bakkie he can drive himself, he depends on others to get to sites or meetings. Yet this limitation has shaped a distinctive leadership style.
"I manage my team like a father, not just a boss," he explains. "I know why people work: to feed their families. So I pay on time, guide them on money matters, and create space for workers with disabilities. When there's an opening a wheelchair user or someone who is hard of hearing can fill comfortably, I hire them and show them what's possible."
A call for real change
Qele believes government support for disabled entrepreneurs remains deeply inadequate.
"Tenders meant for disability empowerment often go to able-bodied owners who have never sat in a wheelchair, yet they're expected to design accessible bathrooms. Give those contracts to companies owned by disabled entrepreneurs who understand the need first-hand! I would also like adapted vehicles and tools to be made more accessible through grants or low-interest loans, and for employment equity targets to translate into real jobs, not just paperwork."
Looking ahead
The company's order book is full, but Qele measures success differently.
"I want people who stand at robots every morning looking for piecework to have permanent jobs and dignity. My driving force is that I want my company to be the biggest one owned by a disabled person in the Eden district - not for ego, but to prove it can be done."
His message to young South Africans with disabilities is simple and fierce:
"Don't wait for someone to give you a chance. Education is your key, belief is your fuel and the world is waiting for what only you can build. Get out of that chair figuratively, if not literally, and go get what is yours."
As one of his workers said while loading bricks this week: "If the boss can lay a perfect apron from his knees, what excuse do the rest of us have?"
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